Taking a break...

Tonight I was working on a Japanese paper thats due in the morning.. I felt like I needed a break and decided to take a drive down to my dumps to see what I could find. When I got to the first place I was excited because the gate was still open and I took this to mean that some good stuff had recently been thrown out; however, when I made my way over to it, I discovered nothing of value.. disappointment... So next, I went to the grocery next door, hoping for some fresh food. But again, I was disappointed to find absolutely nothing! This is unusual for me and I was not in the mood to go home empty handed after all my studying and hard work! I decided to take a detour home and check one more place on the way home.. and its where I found my loot. Not a great bunch of stuff, bu there were 3 cases of potato chips, totaling 35 unopened bags of assorted flavors!!! It goes to show that even if you are not finding anything, there is a treasure trove in another dumpster somewhere... You just have to LOOK FOR IT!!! Ill keep several bags in my car to give out in care packages to the homeless. Speaking of which, I never posted the other day about the two packages I gave away. There were two individuals that got my packages last week; lots of pastries, raisins, cookies and such... the feeling I got from these simple deeds is paralleled only by the one I had when I broke down thinking about refugees accompanying me on dives; a mix of extreme grief and elation.. Its like a drug now, something that I feel almost guilty and a little selfish for feeling to such an extreme extent, almost like an orgasm. Is it right to take so much pleasure in the feelings I get from giving these things away..? Somehow, it feeling so good feels wrong........

Mmmm.. so meaty

I stopped at one grocery on my way home tonight and found a bunch of meat and potatoes.. Ill give the meat to my brother.. I also went to the pharmacy the other day on my way home and found some stuff; ill throw it all in to one list:

2 gallons milk
2 1/2gal. chocolate milk
2 gallons grape drink
2lbs baby white potatoes
1lb hot pork sausage
8oz cooked bacon
1lbpkg oscar mayer hot dogs
1lbpkg Nathans hot dogs
8oz button mushrooms
8oz oscar mayer salami

Not really what I was looking for, but someone can appreciate it.. I always seem to forget about posting recipes so I feel like I should include one in here:


Curry Cashews

cashews
curry powder
olive, chili, or sesame oil
pepper
cumin

Preheat oven to 350. Heat oil in a wok and add cashews when hot, sauteeing for about thirty seconds. Add spices and continue, but be careful not to burn. spread nuts on baking sheet and roast for about 5 minutes, taking care not to over cook.

Remember all those cashews I found the other week? This is a tasty snack for any occasion. I burned them every time, but they were still good... haha

A Good Night

Last night the weather was perfect for the first match of the kickball league that my friends job is in. They lost, but it was fun none the less. On the way home I decided to stop by a couple places near by and was quite pleased with the results:

5 bags of assorted bagels
2 bags hamburger buns
3 bags pita
1 bag hot dog buns
4 boxes cream cheese cherry pastry bites
5 boxes apple pastry bites
4 9" pie crusts
2 loaves sweet Hawaiian bread
2 loaves wheat bread
7 boxes cherry and apple turnovers
18ct box powdered doughnuts
1 cinna pull apart cake
2 heads iceberg lettuce
1 mango
1 green bell pepper
1 mini chocolate eclair pie
8 2qt bottle cranberry juice, exp Oct. 2009
12oz bottle grapefruit juice
16.9oz bottle san pellegreno
3 bottles water
1 bottle pedialyte
2 bottles gatorade
8 blade energy drinks
5 Bud Lights yaaaay beer!
5 Icehouses
2 boxes mango-mandarin instant green tea
2 3.56oz hersheys dark chocolate bars
100 grand bar

extension cord
small fan
4pack mini sharpies
buckin bronco belt buckle
bottle facial cleanser
crayola color wonder kit
3packs 2009 graduation/party invitations
2 picture frames
3 rolls book cover contact paper
2 shower sponges
3 boxes skinzium ointment
tube chapstick
Miley Cyrus keychain flashlight
pair of Love Cuffs "Dont let your valentine get away this year!"







Harvest time is definitely here. Im soo glad!

In other news, I have started a new group on Meetup.com called Triad Freegans. I just started it about a week ago and have five members now. Our first meet up is tomorrow night, 8pm at New York Pizza on Tate Street. I figure it will be a good opportunity to meet each other and exchange some stories and get to know each other a little bit before we go out on our first dive together. If you want to find out more about our group, you can go to meetup.com/triadfreegans. Once we get the group established and have regular activities scheduled, I want to get back to weekly feasting! For those who have had the pleasure of attending, you know how much I love them! Im still looking for a good venue for us to meet at but am having a hard time thinking of good places.. I love you all, but I don't want to have tons of people over all the time.. any ideas on where to find info about community facilities or something like that where we could meet?

Milk and honey.. er.. juice

On a whim, I decided to stop at one of my pharmacies on the way home and was delighted with the results. I dont often go in the middle of the day, but this particular dump set back on the side of the building and not in plain view, and on a Sunday afternoon I felt safe enough to take a peek. In it was:

5 gallons of milk
3 2qt cartons of orange juice
2 16oz bottles of chocolate milk

Now I can eat some of the cereal iv'e been holding on to.. Fortunately, it was a mild day and it seemed to have just been tossed since everything was still cold. Since I dont really drink milk I need to find friends and neighbors that would like some! The juice is perfect for all of my friends who seem to be getting sick this week.. hopefully I will avoid any illness!

Full Moon

I was on the way home after a few drinks at the bar with a friend when I found myself crouched over a pile of fruit inside one of my dumpsters, laughing to myself at the great pleasure I was taking in the whole experience. I love diving. It has become much more that something I do when Im hungry; its become a hobby, much like my playing the cello. I do it when I need a morale boost or when Im bored or angry.. Being a solitary experience, it helps me to step back from my self and regroup my thoughts. The whole process has become routine and the bins all start smelling the same, unless there's something really gross in there. Most often the smell is not a big issue and it has even gotten to the point where it is somewhat comforting; an indicator of the treasures Ill soon be finding..
I recently found out about Meetup.com, a venue for people with like interests to communicate and get together to share their interests with. This seemed like a great way to get a group together for Triad freegans and I began creating a page, but soon realized that you must pay for the services.. So maybe not. Im trying to find a similar place that is free.. anyone know where I could look?
Anyway, here is the list form the other night's dive:

bunch celery
9 bananas
large butternut squash mmmmmm!
apple
4 8oz boxes salted cashews
7oz box chopped pecans
2 4pk.boxes glazed honey buns, individually wrapped
bag hot dog buns
bag hamburger buns
9 containers plain and red pepper hummus!
8oz tub light cream cheese
tube of biscuits

Care Packages

I love my pharmacy. When they stock new inventory, they take out the old stuff, put it in a box all together and toss it in the dump. All I have to do is stop by to pick up my "care packages" as I have come to call them. They almost always have food in them and more often than not contain medicine, books, electronics and all kinds of other great stuff! The latest care packages that I picked up had:

portable cd/radio boombox
4lb box epsom salt
Pez dispenser keychain with pez
12 5.5oz boxes Oreos
3 scented candles
10 CD-R with jewel case
stuffed quail squeaky toy
16 travel tubes Aleve
2 packets Alka Seltzer
3 2qt. bottles grapefruit juice
2 16.9oz bottles water
travel packet antibacterial hand wipes
tube anti-wrinkle hand cream

I don't have a use for lots of the thing that I bring home from the pharmacy, so Ive been working on a plan to put together care packages for people in the community who need it. So far craigslist has been a good venue to make my packages available, but whoever is coming obviously has access to a computer and I want it to go to people who don't have anything. I have also begun keeping extra food stuffs in the car to give to the many homeless people who often stand at what seems like every intersection. If anyone else has experience with anything like this, Id like to hear your ideas on how to get things to those who need it and other related topics.

Cool Weather!

The last few days have been rainy and cool, so I decided last night was a good night to check out the usual spots. I stopped at each of the three grocery stores that I frequent and one of the pharmacies. I immediately spotted loads of stuff and was thrilled to find that everything was still cold to the touch! I'm glad I went because each spot had either something on my wish list or a random gem. Here's the list:

2 cucumbers
4 zucchini
3 squash
4 potatoes
1 sweet potato
1 onion
5lb bag naval oranges
5lb bag red grapefruit
1 qt. Simply Lemonade
20 cans diet Dr. Pepper
8 pack Yoplait pomegranate-blackberry and blueberry yogurt
4 pack store brand vanilla yogurt
2 10oz. pkgs Sara Lee roast beef
3 tubes sticky buns
24 oz. block medium cheddar cheese
8oz block Kraft Monterray Jack
10pk Sargento Vermont sharp white cheddar cheese sticks
8oz pkg shredded sharp cheddar
18oz jar apricot preserves
16oz jar maraschino cherries
12oz jar Marie's chunky bleu cheese dressing
pkg honey wheat rolls
pkg Hawaiian sweet bread
1lb box macaroni noodles
1lb Blue Bonnet margarine

Medium women's Columbia coat... wtf?

Most of the stuff was especially dirty with lots of other food residue on it; garbage trucks had been the day before and the bins were empty when they took out trash that day, so everything was just getting thrown in together and lots of their containers broke. One bin had tons of yogurt, juice, milk, soymilk and such, but the individual yogurt cups had broken all over everything. Fortunately, the large packs were in tact, kept cold and protected from the yucky by the cartons they were in. The salsa and cherries were part of cases that had been dropped and the other jars were smashed and all over everything. I would have gotten a few more jars, but one poke through my gloves from the tiny shards of glass was enough to convince me that one good jar is enough for now; after all, there will ALWAYS be more tomorrow....

One thing I noticed that concerned me were several bottles of salad dressing, oils, packages of deli foods and other items had obviously been opened and poured out, a practice that my stores don't typically employ.. I'm not sure if the manager that night was just being extra thorough in policy practice, if they are starting a new policy of opening packages before throwing out (like many corporate stores do) or if an employee was just screwing around on the clock... I definitely hope that they are not enforcing this practice because not only does it ruin that particular item, it spills out all over everything and ruins whatever else may be salvageable, resulting in a nasty, mucky mess that even I am reluctant to dig through.

The notion of dumpster diving immediately turns off most people because it conjures images of landfills and domestic household waste when the truth is that most of the time, food is put in boxes and bags separate from other waste before making it to the dumpster. All I(you) have to do is open it up and take it.

Ignorance is Bliss

Here is an article from Time magazine that talks about the path of food from farm to fork. Its something that I think everyone should read because it brings some light to the mysteries of where our food comes from and what we are really having to pay for the convenience of it all. Well, some of us are paying for it.. I just wish people could take it upon themselves to explore and educate themselves about issues like these. It seems a hell of a lot more important than who got voted off the latest flavor of love or what the fuck ever people watch these days..

enjoy

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458-1,00.html

Crumble Recipe

In reviewing my blog I realized that I have neglected one of the main functions of this project, which is to share recipes I come up with for dumpstered food. I feel like this recipe for fruit crumble is appropriate because it is fast, easy, and interchangable depending on what is available. I developed this recipe for blueberries since they dont behave in the same way as other fruits in pies. This crumble recipe much simpler than a pie and great for anything you want to put in it.

Crumble Topping

I get one small measuring cup for everything and add

one scoop( I use 1/4c. scoop size for 2 cups of fruit filling)
brown sugar
flour
butter

two scoops (=1/2c.)
oats

half scoop(=1/8c.)
sugar, whatever kind you like

dash of salt

Mix it all up till its crumbly and easily sprinkled. The size of the scoop doesnt really matter as long as you have the ratio right. Make a bigger batch if you have more fruit.

Fruit Mix

(I use 2cups fruit for the 1/4c crubble topping scoop size)

2c. fruit
1/2 c sugar

Mix it up til the juices liquify the sugar. Pour in greased baking dish and sprinkle crumble topping over fruit mix. Bake at 425 for about 20-30 minutes or until desired brown color is reached on crumble topping.

Cool and enjoy with ice cream or something else yummy

I realize that I am not great at dictating recipes, so Im working on getting a step by step video for posted recipes. More about that later..

New Begining

I recently moved out of my wonderful little downtown apartment and in to my brother's house. I have mixed feelings about it for many reasons, but I am glad to have some change in my life. Despite my not going diving much lately, I have managed to sustain myself on what I have stockpiled and the findings of my few and far between dives. Ive been learning in more than one way that it doesnt take much to live. Before settling in to my new home I had to purge all the things I dont need. It was sort of another half attempt at the whole fifty things idea, but I certainly got rid of at least fifty things, of which most were dumpstered items that earned me a small wad of cash and a free small wad of cash is nice to have in lean times. Someone contacted me about collecting the yard sale leftover and I was happy to pass on the rest to someone in need for free. I'd rather give it to a real person that to Goodwill..

So all this change has promped me to bring everyone up to date on some of my findings over the summer. With autumn approaching I feel busy, like a little animal preparing for winter, though winter is the best time for diving. Here are some of the manuscripts ive kept of diving bounty:

7/8/09
60 Huggies diapers
digital TV converter box
bottle nail polish remover
small duffle bag
box small envelopes
2 boxes freeze pops!!!!
digital sports watch
air pump
pair of earrings
bag of assorted mini Snickers bars

7/13/09
2 cases snack buckets (cheese balls and snack mix)
1 loaf bread
2 sweet potatoes
1lb margerine
large garlic bulb
cantiloupe
box baby organic spinach
2 boxes sliced baby portabellas
1 tube crecent rolls..mmmmmm

7/21/09
shit ton of assorted sized bottles and flavors of Propel fitness water
~ 4 cases
1 bottle gatorade

7/19 31/09
assorted apples
4 pears
box granola bars
6oz package shredded swiss cheese
3oz bottle grated parmesean
box Natural granola bars
1lb bag key limes

8/4/09
pineapple
box baby organic spinach
3 1/2gal. bottles lemonade
10lb sack white potatoes
2 boxes croissants
12" sour cream pound cake
1 loaf sourdough bread
5ct pkg lemon cream canolli
10ct bag yeast rolls
2 loaves Natural artisan bread
1gal bottle vegetable oil.. need a veg. oil car now
1qt bottle vegetable oil
2 bunches bananas
3lb sack seedless clementines
1 green bell pepper
3 red bell peppers
2 orange bell peppers
3 zucchini
5 yellow squash
bunch celery
4 boxes oreo cookies
1 package double stuff oreos
12 4oz boxes Nabisco saltines
3 1lb boxes saltines
1 box Quaker assorted instant oatmeal
12oz box okra
1 tube spearmint Chapstick

last dive was a much needed morale boost. It reminded me that persistence and patience are important in diving because everything we need is already out there somewhere and you dont need everything you (have been brainwashed to believe)think you need; you just have to look for it.

Lately..

My computer has been in repair and I havent had many successful dives lately, but that doesnt mean I havent been doing lots of stuff. I have been picking blueberries at a friends and scavenging a lot around town to make money and find food. Times are definately tough, but once the weather cools down we will once again find ourselves in our hour of effortles plenty.  I have been keeping manuscripts of my findings that I may or may not get around to posting..  we'll see how thing turn out.

Farewell..

On Sunday afternoon I went on a bike ride with a couple friends who left this morning to start a new life on the road. They will be camping, squatting, and couch surfing their way across the country over the next year or so and will have many adventures to share! Ill post a link to their blog when I get it..
Anyway, We ended up going quite a bit farther than I thought I could ride, about 40 miles.. But it was great! On the way back we stopped at two of my regular grocery stores and a few pharmacies, where we found loads of food to bring back! It was pretty exciting for everyone, since it had been a while since I've found a good haul and it was their first good dive. Since we didn't bring any food on our ride, we stopped behind the store for a little while for a snack before continuing on to the next store. When we reached the pharmacy we were already carrying so much food that we had to take our new loot to a near by friend's house to drop off so that we could retrieve it later with a car. We ended up finding a bunch of good traveling stuff that I was happy to donate to their cause.
We ended up bringing home:

5lb block swiss cheese
2 packages croissants
several bags of sub rolls and loaves of bread
9 4-packs of sugar free Red Bull
bottle of cranberry juice
lots of cinnamon buns
bag of mini bagles
12in cookie "cake"
half a deli ham
bunchs of individual boxes of raisins and crasins
some office supplies-stapler, scissors, etc..
several VHS tapes
The Jacksons and Elvis records

On a side note, I had another "Find whatever you want" experience the other night. I was biking around Saturday night looking for money and jewelry after bars and clubs closed. For whatever reason I kept thinking about finding a bluetooth headset. Not twenty minutes in to my search, I found one in "the good parking lot" which I have come to call it.. the one I usually find something interesting in.. I helped a neighbor move in a bed from the side of the road, which she was absolutely convinced had been sent to her by god. I find what I need almost on a daily basis and I take all the credit for being open for going out and getting it, though some of the coincidences are baffling...

Im think Im ready to start a new journey myself... im just not sure when Ill go or which direction will call me. Im supposed to be keeping an eye out for a "rare fossil." Maybe Ill know where to go after I find it..

Summer Scavenging

I went to a few places last night and was fortunate enough to find a few things worth bringing home. I went to a grocery and two pharmacies. Im still trying to figure out why no one throws as much stuff out as they do in the winter... I still have not found a a good load in quite a while. I was excited last night to find three boxes of assorted bags of chips(crisps) and snacks, but extremely disappointed when i found that each and every bag had a hole cut in it. I took them home and put them in zip-lock bags to keep them fresh. Fortunately I have a friend who left for Ohio this morning, so she and her friends took most of them for snacks on the road. I guess opening packages is an attempt to keep people from going back after their shift and taking stuff, but it makes me fucking sick. Every day there are two homeless people that panhandle on the corner of the adjacent intersections. why shouldn't they be able to take something they need to survive from what a store throws away...????? Everything is so fucked up and backwards that I feel hopeless a lot of the time.. people starve to death every day while some soulless shell instructs its employees to destroy perfectly good food.....for what? to keep costs down? to discourage stealing? I dont fucking get it. I used to think that people could rise up and be good to each other; take care of each other and what not... Im not so hopeful any more. People are only interested in how much money they have and what they can get for themselves with it. It makes me wonder what a persons life is worth. It makes me wonder what the point of living at all is.

I found a block of provolone cheese
a cantiloupe
a banana
two boxes of hot wings (times are tough and I haveto eat whatever is available..)
3 packs of trail mix
bag of beef jerkey
about 30 bags of assorted chips

Ive also been taking anything I can find that will sell in hopes of having another yard sale soon. The high income neighborhoods around me throw out nice stuff on sunday night before trash day. Damn, this depression really sucks... God damn you to hell, George Bush.

Summertime! and the livin is tough..

I havent had a good score in weeks now. I jumped in the smelliest dumpster I have ever encountered and it turned out to be for naught; the watermelon i was after was rotten on the inside. Summer sucks for diving. Ill have to start going much earlier in the day to find anything still good..

Booored

This summer has been so lame thus far. I havent found a whole lot in the hot smelly dumpsters of summer lately and I have not been working much either, so sleep has been a big part of my days.. Im getting tired of it, though. I had a shift at one of my jobs near a shopping center the other night, so when I left I decided to check the pharmacy and bookstore dumps. I couldnt find much without a flashlight but I did find an entire case, 32 boxes, of cordial cherries. Im not a huge fan so ive been looking for people to give them away to.

I went tubing down the Dan river yesterday, which was awesome! It is so much fun to go with a big group of friends. It was the first official summer activity I have participated in this year. We took a few cases of beer and tons of granola and nutra-grain bars and dried fruit and stuff that Ive stockpiled and made a day out of it. It was relaxing but etremely exhausting at the same time.

In other news, I may be getting and AWESOME summer job! I have been speaking with a woman who owns a farm where she grows bluberries mostly, but also grows muscadines, peaches and other yummy treats. Since her husbands sudden death last year shes been looking for someone to manage the operations and get the food harvested and sold at farmers markets and stuff. Hopefully I will be the one overseeing all of those activities. I'm going out to the farm tomorrow to check things out and talk about what she wants to do. This would be the perfect job for me since I already do it with my blackberry patch. Speaking of my blackberries, its about that time of the year.. I should go out to check on how they have been growing this year.
Well hopefully some more interesting things will be going on this week for me to post about. Ill probably go diving tonight or this weekend since Im still pretty low on fresh food.